Back between the pages

Miracle of miracles: I'm finally over my reading drought, and have had success with a pretty good run of books. The thing that unlocked my desire to read again was a comfort reread of one of my oldest favourite trilogies — Gillian Rubinstein's Space Demons series — which I picked up as a way to calm my nerves on the day of the Australian election.

I followed that up with a trio of library books, which were as follows:

Idol, by Louise O'Neill — a glossy, fast-paced page-turner of a book about a successful Instagram influencer whose glittery life comes crashing down around her ears in the wake of relevations from her youth in small-town suburban America. It's the sort of thing that I could imagine working really well as a prestige miniseries starring Reese Witherspoon, a la Big Little Lies or Little Fires Everywhere.

Blood to Poison, by Mary Watson — a fantasy YA novel set in contemporary South Africa, involving witchcraft, family tensions, and a family curse.

Palmares, by Gayl Jones — a sweeping, lyrical doorstopper of a saga set in 17th-century Brazil.

So it was three very different books, each excellent in its own way, and all a vastly preferable way to spend the time rather than panicked doomscrolling. Long may this trend continue!